The conventional methods for carrying automobiles or other car bodies with wheels between conveyors arranged in series such as to form a conveying line, or between a conveyor and a lifter, include: (i) driving a car body by an operator or a driver; (ii) transferring the car body onto a pallet and carrying the body on the pallet, as disclosed e.g. in Japanese Utility Model pre-examination Publication S.55-167,921 and Japanese Patent pro-examination Publication S. 60-19,611; or (iii) transporting the car body with a traction device engaged with it.
The method (i) requires a driver to be always available where car bodies are carried, resulting in a high cost.
The method (ii) requires large motive power and a large apparats for transferring a car body onto a pallet. In addition, the wheel positions, lifting positions, etc. depend on the types of car bodies, so that the mechanism and control of the transfer means is complex.
The method (iii) requires that the point of engagement of a traction means for different types of car bodies be changed, and therefore needs very complex apparatus. In addition, the direction of the wheels for steering of a car body being pulled is not fixed in the direction of carriage, so that it is difficult to carry the body precisely and smoothly along a carriage line.